Sending text messages is a common activity that we all engage in daily. At times, we might need to schedule a text message to be sent later, but the iPhone doesn’t have that feature. However, there’s a workaround that involves using the Shortcuts app.
First, launch the Shortcuts app, and then go to the bottom to Automation to create a personal automation that’s going to trigger at a specific time. You’ll see one of the options here is time of day, but there’s a catch. You need to schedule it for a specific time of day and set it up so that it’s going to take place just slightly in the future.
At the bottom, you have to choose a repeat. It’s either going to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly. Chances are you don’t want to send the same text message every day, week, or month. You just want to send it this one time, so set it to monthly, which means you’re going to have to remember to turn this off before the next month rolls around.
Next, add “send message” as the action. If you don’t see it here under suggestions, you can always tap “add action” and search for it or search for it down below. Choose what the message should say and then select the recipients by typing the name from your contacts or the email address or phone number for the recipient.
You’re not quite finished with this automation yet. Tap next, and the very important setting you need here is “ask before running.” You need to turn that off. If you don’t turn that off, you can get a notification, and you’re going to have to perform an action to actually send the message. Turn on “notify when run” why not? That sounds like a good option to have if you’re doing something for your iPhone.
Now, whatever it is you’re doing, it will actually send that message at that time. It doesn’t matter if your iPhone is awake or asleep or if you’re with it or not. It should just run automatically. However, it does matter if your iPhone is on or off. Naturally, you would normally be turning your iPhone off.
Remember to go back into Shortcuts and then get rid of this automation afterward. You could set a reminder to do that or just trust yourself to remember, or maybe if you’re doing a bunch of these, just remember at the beginning of every month to kind of clear them out. The functionality isn’t perfect, but it does allow you to schedule a text message to be sent later if you need it.
In conclusion, scheduling text messages on the iPhone isn’t straightforward. However, with the Shortcuts app, you can create an automation that will allow you to schedule a text message to be sent later. The steps above are simple to follow and allow you to send messages at the time of your choosing.